Fatima and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
On Monday, Mary 13, 2013, Cardinal José da Cruz Policarpo, Patriarch of Lisbon, consecrated the pontificate that has just begun to Our Lady of Fatima. This consecration was made during the Mass marking the 96th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary, at the explicit request of Pope Francis.
“O Blessed Virgin, we are at your feet to carry out the request clearly expressed by Pope Francis to consecrate to you, O Virgin of Fatima, his ministry as Bishop of Rome and universal pastor,” Cardinal Policarpo declared, in the presence of 270,000 pilgrims who gathered at the Portuguese shrine on the occasion of the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.
On October 31, 1942, in the midst of international conflict, Pius XII consecrated the Church and the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: “Queen of the Holy Rosary, Help of Christians, Refuge of the human race, Conqueress in God’s battlefields, here we are prostrate before Your throne, beseeching You, in the assurance of obtaining mercy and grace and the helps needed in the midst of the present calamities.... To You and to Your Immaculate Heart in this tragic hour of human history we entrust and give and consecrate not only Holy Church, the Mystical Body of Your Jesus, suffering and bleeding in so many places and tormented in so many ways, but also the whole world, torn by bitter strife and consumed by the fire of hatred, the victim of its own wickedness.”
Mary, terrible as an army set in battle array, pray for us!
Portugal: The pope consecrates his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima
